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Clusters of flat, mud-roofed houses in Kagbeni village, Nepal
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- September 29, 1984
- Location
- Kaagbeni, Nepal
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2007. Terms of use
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- Search LEARN NC for architecture, Kaagbeni, mountains, Nepal, prayer flags, salt trade, and tourism.
In the classroom
- See our collection of articles on visual literacy for ideas on using photographs meaningfully in the classroom.
A cluster of houses stands at Kaagbeni village in Nepal, rectangular-shaped with flat mud-plastered roofs. The houses are built adjoining each other and display prayer flags at different points.
Houses like these are typical for the semi-desert trans-Himalayan region. The region receives very little rainfall and it is extremely cold during most of the year, with temperatures dropping precipitously at night. The mud roofs help to maintain the temperature balance inside the houses, and tend to last for a long time because there is so little rain.
This village used to be an important trading post when the salt trade was in practice. Since the Chinese takeover of Tibet in the 1950s, salt is no longer traded along the historical trading route. Tourism has provided new economic opportunities in villages like this one.
